Leather iPod and iPhone cases just keep appearing, and we keep on checking them out in hopes that something new and exciting will rock our world. Today, we're looking at five new case designs from Capdase, CoverCase, JAVOedge, PDO, and XtremeMac; they range in price from $15 to $30 and vary quite a bit in features, but they all are similar enough to prior, competing products that we're only briefly covering each one.

Made from smooth, nice-feeling Napa leather, the CoverCase Slip Hard Leather Case ($20) uses a design we’ve previously noted we didn’t like much when it was being sold by other companies: it’s basically just a piece of leather wrapped around a hard cup that happens to fit the iPhone. A screen protector and cleaning cloth are included, for no particular reason; they don’t add much to a case like this one.

On a positive note, the Slip Hard Leather Case looks pretty nice and covers the iPhone in a manner that Apple or other companies have previously sold for iPods in more expensive versions; the flip side is that it precludes almost all iPhone feature access unless you fully remove it from the case.

The saving grace of the Slip Hard Leather Case is its $20 price tag. Other than Apple, which famously stumbled when trying to sell a case similar to this for $100, no company save for a famous fashion house could consider charging more than $30 for a shell as simple as this one, and even then, the majority of offerings are, like Macally’s earlier mSleeve, priced at the same general $20 level. All things considered, we think $20 is about right for a product of this sort.

However, we wouldn’t broadly recommend a case like this to our readers; a multifunctional device like the iPhone benefits far more from something crafted to permit screen and control protection than merely to cover it all up and provide access to its headphone port. But to the extent that you want something protective for your iPhone while it’s sitting in your pocket or a bag, and aren’t especially picky about actually being able to use most of its features without taking it out, this case looks and feels professional enough to fit the bill.

Editors' Note: iLounge only reviews products in "final" form, but many companies now change their offerings - sometimes several times - after our reviews have been published.
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